Let's talk about the future of games.

[Magus]

I've been thinking about this a lot. Video games are such a large part of our lives, even those who do not play them...even regulary, are affected. I want to bring about a discussion of where we see games going in the next, say...5-10 years. Where it should be going.

If you can, seperate your ideas into catagories:

RPGs:

I think the idea of random monsters/encounters is dead. Also, the idea of power leveling is out the door from here on out as well as the "Dragon Warrior/Quest" pricing system where green gels give you maybe 1 or 2 GP each and your nearest weapon/armour is a good 100-200.

This does two things, it forces the player to either make a choice between weapons and defence, also it gives the user the option to stick around and get them both by power leveling. Sure, it might not break the game early in the game and many people are casual gamers dont want to put the time and effort to walk around a 4X4 area of land for hours to get that GP for that sword or peice of armour, however a lot of people do. I consider myself one of the bigger fans of the RPG genre and I absolutely hate having to do this.

In addition, I do not enjoy power leveling for the sake of beating a boss or progressing the . This begs the question that must all the enemies, bosses or super/secret bosses must be easy? I say, no of course not. But there's a difference between being a hard boss because you have 9999999999999999 HP and/or a killer instant kill death spell, and being a hard boss that is really smart and genuinely challenges the user to make intelligent tactical decisions.

One of the best RPG to come out of the RPG factory in recent years is the KOTOR series. Now we might not all agree on the whole party gaining experience at the same time idea but it works because the game is not challenging on the basis of hard, really strong enemies, but how you customize your characters. Years ago Square made a game called Super Mario RPG which implemented the same Experience system, and the game was still hard - maybe not in the same waysthat more recent games are, but still challenging at the time.

Fighting Games:

I am not a huge fan of this genre because I find it oh so limiting. If Capcom releases another 2D Street Fighter, it might sell a decent amount but is it a decent game? Even the Tekken games are showing their age IMO. This genre really needs to be more immersive and break the mold that it created for itself.

Long time ago, there was a game called Bushido Blade for PSX. While it might not have been the greatest game ever it broke the mold of fighting games. This is where I want to see future fighting games to go. I want to be able to be in a fully interactable environment where I can do anything, use anything against my opponent or opponnents.

I also do not like the current "DOWN + DOWN + UP + DOWN + LIGHT KICK" system of fighting games. I find move systems like that to be mundane and ancient. I want to be able to raise my arm to cover my face with one button and then use my free hand to drive my fist into my opponents stomach. When they're close to KO I want them to struggle to get up, struggle to move around. I want location specific damage that causes their attacks and abilities to deteriorate. I want to be challenged constantly by my enemies wits, not by their ability to pull off a combo move faster then I am. Fighting games should be like boxing, a game of chess. Fight Night from EA went away from the button mashing and I applaud EA for taking the right steps forward to make the genre better.

Adventure/Puzzle Games:

In general note, adventure games are excellent as they are right now. They are beautiful, they push the limit and are extreamly surreal. However puzzles should not only be logicial but also complex. I want to be challenged, mentally, and if its a physical challenge then make it believeable and fun.

For straight forward puzzle games like Puyo Pop, I can only hope they become more original then the ones we've been seing already.

Sim games:

These games need to push our senses to the limit. I want to be able to believe I'm really in a Tie-Fighter cockpit or behind a Nascar, whatever it may be. While not a Sim game Burnout 3 gave the sense of speed only few games have ever obtained. You might hate the game but I challenge you to say you're not going fast in that car.

In regards of space sims, if they're not using an established liscence like Star Trek or Wars, I feel that authentic Neutonian physics should be implemented meaning that you need to propell yourself forward and then backwards to stop. Also, in keeping with authentic physics you need to remember that space is a vacumn and there's no noise.

Survival Horror:

I'll keep this one short and to the point. RE4 totally redefined the genre. If another Silent Hill game comes out and it still looks the same it'll get slammed because Resident Evil killed that way dead. While you might of liked every part of RE4, the new camera angles, controls and what not are infinity times better then anything from 1-3. This is another good example of the right steps into the future for games.

I'm going to leave it here, there's more I could add - especially in the RPG component since I am such a fan of the genre, but I want to see if this thread takes off first before I waste anymore bandwidth.

And I know, it's kinda long but I was in a typing mood tonight.

[Affinity]

??reading

[CumGuzzlingFag]

im not reading all that shit

[obi_ant]

What about shooters? I saw create sim where you get SHOT as well, and you can only go on as long as you can take the pain. Airsoft anyone?

[x3r0n]

[Immune]

Fighting games will never have the flexibility that you described. The controls are just not elaborate enough to offer such a versatile level of game play. It would require a revolution in control to achieve such a level.

[Immune]

Originally Posted by x3r0n

[img]http://www.iaeste.ie/img/breathtaking%20cliffs%20of%20moher.jpg[/mg]

[x3r0n]

Originally Posted by Immune

[lonedawg]

Originally Posted by Immune

Fighting games will never have the flexibility that you described. The controls are just not elaborate enough to offer such a versatile level of game play. It would require a revolution in control to achieve such a level.

Fight night 2k4's "total control" system was damn nice.

I too have lost touch with fighting games because it's simply the same shit over and over, mashing buttons/combinations etc.

The genre has became stale, they need to move ahead with the times like other genre's.

[Selj]

In other news: http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games...t_bulletproof/

[y0rgos]

how gay

[liquidfire]

i believe the biggest thing is that developers will become more and more aware that they can make more money off creating a game that promises great multiplayer and then not supporting it compared to creating the game and supporting it. thus we will end up with a bunch of games that are great to play until some faghats figure out all the exploits and the development team doesn't care to help fix it or give permission for the fanbase to create a patch to fix the problems.

[Dazz]

I honestly don't think that RE4 is a "survial horror" game anymore... The survival and horror parts have been removed from the game. Awesome game though, but it's a new genre.

[[H]orny]

I agree with you 100% when it comes to RPG's but this also spills over for me into other genre's. Nothing kills a game more for me if I feel it's tedious. I don't want to have to get into random encounters for 2 hours to level up or get enough gold. I don't want to have to walk all the way across a mansion to get a key only to walk all the way back to use it.

Back tracking is one of the worst things you can do to a game. It's a cheap way of prolonging the play time. I like the idea of constantly exploring new areas and if I do have to return to previous one I should be able to open a new area or discover something new.

[Jari -]

Originally Posted by [H]orny

I agree with you 100% when it comes to RPG's but this also spills over for me into other genre's. Nothing kills a game more for me if I feel it's tedious. I don't want to have to get into random encounters for 2 hours to level up or get enough gold. I don't want to have to walk all the way across a mansion to get a key only to walk all the way back to use it.

Back tracking is one of the worst things you can do to a game. It's a cheap way of prolonging the play time. I like the idea of constantly exploring new areas and if I do have to return to previous one I should be able to open a new area or discover something new.

so you didn't like the metroid series?